own_eurovision_song_contestfandomcom-20200223-history
L'essenziale
"L'essenziale" (English: The essential) is a song recorded by Italian singer Marco Mengoni. Written by Roberto Casalino, Francesco De Benedettis and Mengoni himself, the song was produced by Michele Canova. After winning the Sanremo Music Festival 2013, the song was chosen by RAI as the Italian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, held in Malmö, Sweden on 18 May, finishing 7th among the 26 finalists. Released in Italy on 13 February 2013 as the lead single from Mengoni's second studio album, #prontoacorrere, the song was commercially successful in Italy, debuting at number one on the FIMI Singles Chart and being certified multi-platinum for domestic downloads exceeding 60,000. Background The song was written by Italian singer Marco Mengoni, together with Roberto Casalino and Francesco De Benedittis, and it was produced by Michele Canova. During an interview released to Italian magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, Mengoni described the song as "an Italian-style ballad in the tipping point between love and social issues". He later explained that the song refers to all kind of relations, and that it "is about the necessity to go back to essentiality, to open to new emotions and to overcome the difficulties of these days", expressing "the urgency to free people from the superstructures and the general crisis". Describing the background of the song, Mengoni explained that he received a demo from Italian singer-songwriter Roberto Casalino, claiming it did not impress him at the beginning but, "after trying to perform it and rewriting the song's lyrics with its two other writers Casalino and Francesco De Benedittis, it became a second skin, an obsession". Eurovision Song Contest In March 2013, Rai 2 announced "L'essenziale" as the song to be performed by Mengoni during the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. The last time Italy was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest by the winning song of the Sanremo Music Festival was in 1997, when Jalisse performed their song "Fiumi di parole". Mengoni decided to perform the song in Italian, claiming he wanted to "export an Italian DOC product". In order to fulfill the rules of the contest, the version of the song performed during the competition and included in the compilation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was shortened to a lenght of 3 minutes and 11 seconds. In particular, the Eurovision version does not include an instrumental part, as well as some lines of the last chorus. Since Italy is part of the "Big Five", Mengoni automatically qualified for the final of the competition, held in Malmö, Sweden, on 18 May 2013. His performance was scheduled as the 23rd during the night. While singing the song, Mengoni was alone on stage, performing with modest movements and colours and wearing a suit designed for him by Salvatore Ferragamo's Massimiliano Giornetti. While commenting on this choice, Mengoni explained: "For this song, which is called 'The Essential', me and my team decided to be just like that on stage. I think it also fits with the message of this Eurovision Song Contest, 'We Are One'. Music doesn't need the spending of a lot of money, you just need the air to hear it". The song finished seventh in a field of 26, receiving 126 points, including the top score from Spain, Switzerland and Albania. This marked Italy's third top ten result in a row since its comeback to the contest in 2011. Music video The music video for the song was filmed in Milan and Brescia, in Northern Italy, and it was directed by Giuseppe La Spada. La Spada also produced and edited the music video for "L'essenziale". The video was released on YouTube on 15 February 2013. On 28 March 2013, the backstage of the official music video was also released on Mengoni's YouTube channel. In the first part of the video, Mengoni plays the song at home, while during the second half, he performs the song underwater. As explained by La Spada during an interview, the music video is "a sort of escape from the world we live in, a jailbreak made of pictures, musics at the piano, water. Because water is the fundamental element that leads us back to the principle of life". Own Eurovision Song Contest The song will represent Vatican City in the Special Edition, Own Eurovision Song Contest 20. The contest will take place in Timisoara,Romania. Category:OESC songs of Vatican City Category:OESC 20 songs Category:OESC 20 songs SF1 Category:OESC 20 songs Final